Uncasville nursing home co-workers split $40,000 Powerball prize

Rocky Hill — A Groton woman and two of her co-workers at the Orchard Grove Specialty Care Center in Uncasville won $40,000 this week with a winning Powerball ticket they jointly purchased in New London, according to a statement from the Connecticut Lottery.

Kysha Drummond of Groton asked several of her co-workers if they wanted to chip in $3 to buy tickets for Wednesday’s drawing. Noreen Foley of Sprague and Kristina Beaulieu of Lisbon were the only takers. Together, they purchased three tickets and on Friday morning arrived at Lottery headquarters in Rocky Hill to claim $13,333 each after taxes.

“The morning after the drawing, I went to a lottery retailer and scanned our tickets in a ticket checker,” Drummond told Lottery officials. “I saw a prize that began with four and was followed by a whole lot of zeros. I asked the clerk to scan the ticket for me and that’s when he told me it was a $40,000 winner!”

The winning Powerball numbers on Sept. 18 were 7, 10, 22, 32 and 35. One of the “Quick Pick” tickets that Drummond purchased matched four of the five winning numbers drawn, plus the Powerball number, 19, which quadrupled a $10,000 prize.

Drummond, Foley and Beaulieu’s prize-winning Powerball ticket was purchased at Sully’s Mobil Mart at 382 Vauxhall St. in New London.

The Connecticut Lottery issued a press release Friday with comments from Drummond.

“I was so excited; I couldn’t believe it,” Drummond said. “I called Kristina and left her a crazy voice message and then called Noreen — she didn’t believe me.”

In total, 45,598 winning Powerball tickets were sold statewide for that date, with prizes ranging from $4 to the group’s $40,000 prize win, according to the Lottery.

Drummond plans a long overdue vacation; Foley will use the money to help pay for her daughter’s school trip to Europe and help her brother; and Beaulieu will put the money toward a new car, according to the statement.